Untitled
by Swallowing.RaInDrOpS
Summary: Neither of them thought their marriage would end like this. (Because I couldn't decided what to title it you're more than welcome to send me a message on what you think it should be called. Based on a tumblr prompt that I saved a year ago, it made me remember this oneshot was so hard because it kept trying to make itself a full story, which I may end up doing anyway.)


Edited for your reading pleasure. At least I hope this is a better edition.

(2 reviews have been responded to on my new fic, "The Ripple" only because I posted that one before updating this).

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His body was whipped to exhaustion. Every inch of skin that she had ever caressed or kissed, each precious memory inched on his flesh seemed to be flogged away in a wash of red welts.

Katara was chained. First by her hands, to the separate cell when they forced her to watch him suffer as punishment for trying to free him from the prison, and now by her neck and feet as she was personally escorted to the private grounds just outside the Firelord's palace; filled only with jagged rocks in sand surrounding a large creaking structure and what Katara knew was a clear view from a high balcony.

The grounds stretched for needless miles, but there was only one place they were going today. She'd kept her eyes to ground until one of the guards yanked the chain securing the neck brace up.

Katara clenched her teeth so tight she could've broken them.

She wanted them to; she preferred any torture to what she'd been forced just to watch these past days.

_'Anything but this'_, she prayed as the guard pushed her body forward and gripped her arms in his meaty hands to watch her husband's worn body be pushed down to his knees. There were more bruises since the last night she'd seen him; dried scabs crossed his skull from the tip of his crafted arrow to his scalp, and they'd blindfolded him with the cloth she'd ripped from her skirt to wipe his tears away the previous night.

As she got closer he was brutally forced to kneel before the chopping block.

"Please…Please don't!"

He suddenly hesitated, his muscles jerked away from the wooden hole, "K-Katara…" he choked out, his throat produced a dry, scratched tone that she wasn't used to, "You said she wouldn't have to watch this!"

"Change of plans, Avatar, as ordered by the Firelord." To his left a large guardsman with a scruffy beard and dark skin, their Captain, spoke up. His burly stance sank so deeply in the sand and forced Aang to ignore every building instinct that was now whispering to him to bend it, wrap him in sand until the guard was completely crushed, choking in blood. His body felt feverishly warmer just picturing it.

Katara swallowed the rising bile in her throat, felt it burn in her chest. That was the one guard that frightened her, the one who would ultimately take Aang away from her.

"I'm begging you!"

Whatever strength Katara had stored went completely to her voice. She had been known as a very proud woman, a worthy wife chosen for the task of an Avatar Wife, and she always knew she would throw any title away for Aang.

Like him, she would grovel, she would bow until her forehead was bruised and her knees were red if that's what it took.

So she poured all her strength into this moment; she fell to her knees, ignored the brace around her neck choking her, and allowed them to see the tears in her eyes, "_Please_… _please _don't…. He didn't even do anything! There's no proof of his crime!"

"There is the word of the Firelord. That is enough." The guard holding the chain of her neck spoke so calmly it angered Katara.

"Is that what you'll tell yourself tonight?! That the words of one corrupt man were enough?!"

"How dare you!" A guard behind her forced her head so heavily to the ground the sharp rocks cut across her face.

"Katara!" Aang's voice cracked out. Even with his body depleted of energy the two guards that had shadowed Katara now rushed to keep him pinned down.

"Huan," The Captain rumbled, calling the attention of the man holding Aang's left shoulder. The one who'd touched the Avatar Wife, "you're much too noisy to continue in this affair."

The guards watched as the Captain jutted his fist out and effectively set the man on fire. His screams would weave through Katara's nightmares for many years.

"Restrain him better." The Captain ordered, and the remaining guard obeyed, forcing Aang's head into the lunette while his boss moved to raise the weighed blade by its rope. .

"No! No!" Katara screamed, her tears whipped away from her face. The Captain glanced from her broken body to the Avatar's.

"If you have any last words or requests Avatar Aang, we will respect you wishes."

Aang was silent for a moment, "Remove my blindfold."

The Captain drilled his dark eyes into the Avatar's skull before jerking his head to the guard.

Katara slapped her hands over her mouth; His eyes were so swollen she wondered if he could see her disheveled appearance at all.

His head strained in small vibrations; if he struggled he could move his head up enough to make out a blurry visual of blue and brown. His heart beat a little faster, and the corner of his mouth quirked up. It was a terrible situation with no escape and he didn't want her to see this, but just once, right before he died he wanted to give in to that selfishness, he wanted to smile…

He'd wanted to see her.

"Katara…" a loud whisper made her squinting, wet eyes focus.

"Katara…I love you."

A squeak, then gasps of breath set Katara crying as loudly as she ever had before the blade of the guillotine dropped.


End file.
